The invention relates to a module, in particular a sliding roof module for a motor vehicle. The module comprises at least one guide, at least two carriages, which are adapted to be moved in the guide, and a catch connected to a drive device.
A sliding roof module for a motor vehicle may comprise a cover piece of a sliding roof that includes two or more cover pieces. The cover pieces may be attached to each of the carriages. The cover pieces are adjustable and movable independently from each other to allow different relative positions. For instance, it may be desirable to bring one of the cover pieces from a closed position into a so-called ventilation position. In the ventilation position, the cover piece is placed at an angle such that its rear edge, as seen in the travel direction of the vehicle, is lifted. Furthermore, it may be desirable to bring another cover piece from its closed position via a ventilation position into an open position, while the other cover piece is in the ventilation position.
To independently actuate the two cover pieces relative to each other, there is provided in prior art, one drive device for each carriage. The drive device may be a cable, which is guided in a stiff fashion and, hence, is non-buckling. The cable is connected to a corresponding carriage and is shifted by a drive motor in a suitable manner. This design is expensive to construct, especially due to the high cost of motors.
The object of the invention therefore consists in further developing a roof module at low expenditure and at low costs to shift at least two carriages through a single drive device.
According to the invention, there is proposed a module, in particular a sliding roof module for a motor vehicle, which comprises at least one guide and at least two carriages, which are adapted to be moved in the guide. Each component to be operated is attached to a carriage. The module further has at least a first catch, which is connected with a drive device such that the catch can be shifted in the guide. The first catch and at least one of the carriages are designed such that the first catch can be coupled to one of the carriages to shift the carriage and, after a predetermined amount of shifting, can be detached from the carriage.
With the single drive device, the actuation of several carriages is made possible. A catch, which is fixedly connected to the drive device at a suitable location, is coupled to a carriage at a suitable position of the drive device. The catch entrains the carriage with a further shifting of the drive device and then again decoupled from the carriage. If the drive device is then further shifted, it is possible to couple another catch to the particular carriage or even to another carriage, and to decouple the catch therefrom again. By suitably arranging the catches on the drive device, there are defined selected regions of the shift path of the drive device in which there occurs a combined action with one of the carriages. In this way, several carriages can be successively or even simultaneously shifted with one single drive device per guide and one single drive motor for this drive device.
A module may, of course, also comprise two guides arranged so as to be opposite each other, which extend, for example, along the side edges of a roof opening and each bear several carriages. It is further to be noted that the term xe2x80x9ccouplingxe2x80x9d not only means that the catch rests at one of the carriages but also includes a connection to the carriage such that both tensile and pushing forces are able to be transferred.
Advantageous designs of the invention will be apparent from the below claims.